Monday, November 25, 2013

Students get creative to raise money for Dance Marathon

Scott Brown, ReporterNovember 24, 2013

The
Dance Marathon fundraising season has begun at Northwestern, and
dancers have already been doing their best to fill cans with spare
change.
Some students and groups, however,decided to stray from that
well-worn path and have come up with unique ideas to raise funds for
this year’s charity, Team Joseph, which supports research on Duchenne
muscular dystrophy. Here are a few ways DM teams are thinking outside
the can to raise the necessary money by the start of DM, scheduled for
March 7-9.

Bringing munchies to you

Weinberg freshman Jacob Rosenblum has been taking advantage of NU
students’ late-night cravings with his delivery service, Hungry, Lazy
& Craving Fran’s. Taking orders through text, Rosenblum will bring
orders anywhere on South campus, with a $1 surcharge to benefit the
Willard Residential College DM team. He said since he began about a week
ago, he has made about $80 over four nights.
“I walk there, so when I get there I’m wind-bitten and sweaty,"
Rosenblum said. "Usually people feel bad and donate more or tell me to
keep the change."
Rosenblum credits Weinberg sophomore Sam Madvig with the idea, but he
has had extensive fundraising experience himself. In high school, he
started his own dance marathon, which drew 800 dancers to benefit the
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“I love when hundreds of people come together to achieve one cause,” he said.
Rosenblum is also on the DM dancer relations committee and is the DM liaison to Willard.
Hungry, Lazy & Craving Fran’s delivers Sunday through Thursday from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Skills for sale

People are tapping into their talents to fundraise for Northwestern
University Marching Band’s DM team. Each year, the NUMB team sets up an
auction for its dancers to sell things like hand-knit scarves and
blankets, home-cooked meals and even music lessons.
“It’s been successful in the past because people may make pillows or
whatever and want to sell them, but they have no one to sell them to,”
said Cameron Ulmer, a NUMB team captain. “This makes it really easy for
them.”
The auction, which will be held during Winter Quarter, is open to
everyone but mostly broadcast to members of NUMB, the Weinberg junior
said. Funds from items sold go directly to the individual DM accounts of
the seller.

Party cab

NU students have long frequented the Mark II in Chicago's Rogers Park
neighborhood, fondly termed "the Deuce." SESP sophomore Rachel Adler
and Weinberg sophomore Steffi Brock-Wilson noticed the local landmark’s
popularity when they started giving rides to friends and began
requesting small donations to take them there. Deuce Taxi was born.
“People are excited that if they’re gonna spend money on a cab, they
can now donate to DM too,” Adler said. “Plus, it’s also about the
experience.”
“The experience” includes a guest book for riders to sign in, music
and trivia during the ride. The suggested donation amount is $2 to $4,
all of which goes toward the Project Wildcat DM team. Adler and
Brock-Wilson both were counselors for PWild before the 2013-14 academic
year and want to continue their involvement through DM.
“This is PWild’s first year having a team,” Brock-Wilson said. “A lot
of the motivation behind it is that we think PWild has a lot of
potential to raise money.”
Deuce Taxi has raised almost $200 in two weeks, Adler said, with an ultimate goal of $800.
Deuce Taxi takes appointments by phone and runs Thursday nights and Friday mornings from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.